Every now and then you find a food product that truly makes your healthy life easy, and Quest Nutrition Bar Cookies and Cream has an absolute blowout winner with this new flavor. Quest's mission in starting their company was to make protein bars that people would actually want to eat, and if you were to try just one flavor of their bars, this is the one.

I've been a big fan of some of the flavors of Quest Nutrition Bars for awhile and regularly recommend then to my weight loss coaching clients as a great way to get a significant amount of quality protein (whey and milk) into them without the high sugar and soy of many protein bars when they're on the go, need a satiating snack around a workout or simply to fight a junk food craving.

The prominent end cap display at the store filled with boxes of Cheerios Protein cereal caught my eye just like it was meant to do. I'm known to have little snack baggies of Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios handy at all times--like Moms do for their toddlers, to combat crunchy snack attacks and the need for a quick burst of carbs on the go that are light on the stomach for my frequent Group Fitness Instructor role.

Cheerios with more protein? This I wanted to see.

The first step was to carefully eyeball the packaging and here was General Mills' first marketing trick--below the big "Cheerios Protein" label, the big 11 grams of protein featured in the circle below these words had the added qualifier "with milk." Aha, so someone reading the package fast sees 11 grams of protein and thinks, "wow, they really fortified those cheerios with that protein!" Not really--that half cup of skim milk they are assuming you're having with the Cheerios Protein, accounts for four of the seven grams of protein. So the cereal needs a milk buddy to get to that 11 grams of protein claim, as the Cheerios Protein really has just seven grams of protein.

I always tell my weight loss coaching clients that eating out can absolutely be part of your overall healthy lifestyle--it's all about the choices you make. Well Chick-Fil-A has just made healthy eating on the run just that much easier with its new grilled chicken menu items. Best choices are the Chick-Fil-A Grilled Chicken Sandwich, Grilled Chicken Bites and Grilled Market Salad.

The Chick-Fil-A grilled chicken sandwich is just 320 calories and 5 grams of fat with a powerful 30 grams of protein. If you choose mustard, fat-free honey mustard or just enjoy the seasonings of the grilled chicken itself and skip the

Burger King is trying to make it possible for you to say "yes" when asked if "you want fries with that" by coming out with healthier french fries called Satisfries™.

A small portion of Burger King Satisfries are 270 calories, 11 grams of fat (1.5 grams saturated fat), zero grams of trans fat and 300 milligrams of sodium. To put that in persepctive, a small regular Burger King fry order is 340 calories, 15 grams of fat (2.5 grams saturated fat) and 480 milligrams of sodium. So you're saving 70 calories, 4 grams of fat (1 saturated) and 180 milligrams of sodium by ordering Satisfries. Still not exactly health food, and there's a lot of other foods you could spend 270 calories on, but every bit helps.

So how do Burger King Satisfries taste? I knew Burger King would do a free promotion on Satisfries, so

As a New York City native and Certified Health and Wellness Coach, I've watched this whole issue of Mayor Bloomberg banning soda and other sugary drinks with great interest. I heard the first anti-New York City Sugary Drink Ban campaign ads on the radio when I visited New York last Summer and thought that it would be an interesting battle.

The whole sugary drink ban is a tough call because no one likes to be told what to do when it comes to making healthy choices. And New Yorkers, in particular, do not like being told what to do.

Newsflash--healthy habits happen when people are ready to make a change and choose to go with what's good for them, not when they're forced into it. And if you restrict what people can have, it also will tend to make them want to do the opposite and rebel against it.

On the other hand, regular soda and sugary beverages are definitely contributors to obesity and diabetes in adults and children. Children can't decide for themselves, but their parents sure can.

But the "ban" didn't limit getting 2-liter bottles from the supermarket or convenience store, and someone could just buy two drinks to make up for the smaller quantity. I think you would have seen a lot of businesses offering BOGOs for 16-ounce drinks and there goes the ban anyway.

Taco Bell went anti-veggie in its Super Bowl Ad and fortunately it suffers the consequences.

Not that Taco Bell was ever a place you thought of for vegetables anyway, but it certainly didn't need to create a Super Bowl Ad that outright encourages people to not bring a vegetable platter to a game day party.

And it's not like there will be Big Game ads for vegetables either amongst all the beer, car and snack ads, but attacking people who are smart enough to remember that you can have a healthy Super Bowl party and not have any less fun, is just silly. Which ad agency was asleep at the wheel here?

According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest,Taco Bell was inundated with complaints from consumers and nutritionists, and responding to public pressure agreed to take the anti-veggie ad down. At least they acted quickly, but still...

I say now everyone in the country should be sure to have a vegetable platter at their Super Bowl Party. Now wouldn't that be a step in the right direction! Just make that dip low-fat or fat-free and you're all set.

Think you're accurate about the number of calories you're burning every single day? Sure you may know approximately how many calories in general someone burns walking or cycling. But what about what YOU personally burn for that activity based on your own individual effort and metabolism?

And what about all the calories you're burning (or not burning), throughout the day? How do you count the number of calories burned walking around a giant big box retailer like Costco for awhile? What about chasing after your kid or pet? Activities like those also are burning calories, but are tough to quantify.

For example, I've been helping my Mom pack up to move to a new place. On those days I haven't been doing an official workout, but I know I'm working really, really hard. Yet what was I burning calorie-wise?

Well if you have a bodybugg® (now known as BodyMedia) like I've owned for the last four+ years, you know!

In the first three episodes (of eight total to come in season one), highly likeable trainer Chris Powell (who is a Bob Harper-style trainer), worked to successfully transform three different "super obese" people--those who have more than 200 pounds to lose, Sounds like Biggest Loser, but how is it different?

Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Editiondoesn't have competition between participants, and takes a longer-term view. Each episode focuses on just one individual's weight loss journey over the course of a year.

Chris Powell starts each episode with a bootcamp and immersion in healthy lifestyle tactics for a week at a California health institute, and then moves in with the story subject for the first three months to make sure that healthy habits take hold. This explains why there are only eight episodes of the show, but it has already been picked up for a second season, where I imagine Chris will have to move in for a shorter period of time to make the show work--maybe more like a week like Jillian Michaels did in Losing' It With Jillian (which I wish had another season).

Ronald McDonald is the subject of a lot of controversy these days. How did a clown get himself in the middle of such a mess?

On the one hand, Ronald McDonald is being blamed pretty much single-handledly for the rise in children's obesity, and there are organizations calling for his resignation. On the other, Ronald McDonald is also the symbol of the good works of McDonald's like Ronald McDonald House.

Here's my two cents on the matter. No individual with a brain ever really thought McDonald's food overall was health food, although they certainly have made efforts to have some healthy choices--yogurt parfaits, fruit smoothies, oatmeal, grilled chicken, apple slices, side salads. So if a child wants McDonald's, it doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be unhealthy food.

And who is supposed to be deciding for a child between the healthy food McDonald's offers on its menu and the less than stellar choices? YES! The parent or guardian.

For the second time this year, I've been mentioned in Woman's World magazine! This time it's in the 5/30 issue that's now on the newsstands in a round-up piece for You Deserve The Best, where I gave my opinion on a good healthy hot dog--my personal favorite--Jennie-O. My contribution is the one all the way on the right-hand side.

Please note that I do not have an affiliation with any of the companies featured in this post--they are simply products I am personally familiar with--no samples were supplied. The views expressed are my opinion only and you should decide, along with your healthcare professionals, on the appropriateness for your personal use.

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